Holiday ruined: Here’s how to avoid losing your luggage on a flight

“When you’re in a room with 200 black suitcases and trying to find somebody’s individual bag, a GPS tag won’t help but a tag with your name and contact information will,” they say.

Bird agrees, recommending that people with privacy concerns can include a phone number or social media handle in lieu of a residential address.

In May, London-bound travellers were left fuming after Qantas failed to arrive in the UK and were stranded for days without clear direction from the airline. Since then, as the northern hemisphere summer began to peak, things have worsened with international airlines Delta and Icelandair chartering luggage-only flights and deploying staff to more in-demand airports. British Airways pre-emptively slashed more than 1500 flights, while Qantas recently hired more than 1000 new staff, and Heathrow Airport introduced passenger caps to manage the crisis.

“The truth is that the difficulties we are facing now are because of COVID and flu-related sickness, as well as an extremely tight labour market,” Qantas CEO of International and Domestic Andrew David said in a recent statement.

While the goal is to have your luggage waiting at the baggage carousel when you arrive, Bird says preparing for the worst is a good idea, which means finding a travel insurance policy that covers lost luggage and delays, packing with more intention than usual, and photographing your checked luggage.

“People should take a photo of what’s inside their luggage before they check it because insurers and airlines will ask for an itemised list of what was in it and an approximate value. Once I’d been on a plane for 24 hours I would struggle to remember what was in it, so a photo can be a really easy way to jog your memory,” Bird says.

The Qantas staff member also recommends taking medication on carry-on, so that if baggage is delayed or lost your health won’t be impacted.

“Often people take just a day or two’s supply with them on carry-on and put the rest in checked luggage, but I’d advise taking the full amount you need for your holiday with you on your carry-on with either a note from your doctor to confirm they are prescribed or having the prescription with you.”

When heading to Europe earlier this month, Sydney content and communications manager Rebecca Sullivan packed her carry-on luggage with the assumption her checked luggage would be either delayed or lost. When the premonition ultimately proved true, Sullivan said the blow was more manageable because of her pre-planning.

“I wish more people would be 100 per cent honest about the reality of what it’s actually like to travel right now. It’s amazing and wonderful and jaw-dropping, but also incredibly frustrating and stressful,” Sullivan said.

Along with skincare, sunglasses and a change of clothes and shoes, Sullivan packed bras and swimwear, explaining, “bra shopping is stressful at the best of times and I couldn’t deal with that in the middle of holidays.”

Despite the rocky start to her holiday, Sullivan says her lost luggage has “actually been strangely liberating. It shows you really don’t need that much at all,” and is now planning to spend the entirety of her holiday travelling with just her carry-on suitcase.

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